Folly Cove (42 page)

He was so infuriating. Of course she never would have invited him to New England! Why would she? They weren't a
thing
. They had never been
official
. He wasn't her
boyfriend
. They were colleagues in a fluid industry and just happened to hit it off in bed. That was no basis for a relationship.

And yet the thought of Ryder leaving now, before her mother's birthday party next weekend, made Elly feel slightly insane. She wanted to see him, if only to argue her points about men and women and the fallibility of marriage. To make him keep the promise he'd made (to Laura, she reminded herself) to record this important birthday for her mother.

This important
fake
birthday. God. It was no wonder she didn't trust anyone, when even her own mother lied to her.

She jolted over logs and stones, once biting her tongue and swallowing blood. She had to push hard to ride the bike through thick tufts of yellow grass that were like hands grabbing at the wheels. After an hour or so, she was tired, and the icy November wind began to cut sharply through her jacket. By now it was raining harder. The narrow strips of sky between the trees looked gray-green. Every bush and tree shed water on her, until she was soaked. The light had turned a brooding gray and the trails were thick smears of mud with treacherous rocks. She fell off the bike once and went headfirst into a bramblebush, twisting her wrist.

Elly checked her phone after another series of switchbacks and realized now nearly two hours had passed. She was shivering from the cold and damp, and she was completely lost in Dogtown.

Her father had warned them about this any time he'd brought them here. Dogtown was a maze littered with rocks, signs of previous ice floes that had pushed and scraped boulders across the earth before melting and dumping them in heaps, as if some giant baby had been playing with stones and then left them in random piles.

Elly stopped the bike and straddled it on a small rise, trying to get her bearings. She saw none of the famous landmarks: not the gigantic terminal moraine, piled high with thousands of huge boulders. Not Peter's Pulpit, the enormous rock that sat at the turn in Commons Road. Not the Whale's Jaw, a boulder that once resembled a whale rising with its mouth open toward the sky but had since fallen into two ungainly pieces, its jaw broken in a way that made Elly cry when she'd seen it for the first time, imagining it as part of a real creature.

She couldn't be near the Babson Boulder Trail by the reservoir because she didn't see any of the marked cellar holes from the original inhabitants. All she knew for sure was that she was in the woods on a single-track trail. Because the sky was overcast and visibility was poor, Elly couldn't even tell which direction she was facing. She should have stuck to the wider paths and cart roads.

It was too cold to stand here with her teeth chattering. Elly climbed back on the bike and continued riding. Surely she'd eventually see something familiar, or even reach the outskirts of Dogtown, if she continued in a reasonably straight line. The important thing was to keep moving and stay warm.

Elly tried to take her mind off her rising panic by remembering some of the stories her father had told her about this place. Many of them were about women who didn't fit in anywhere.

Just like me,
she thought dully.

There were the witches of Dogtown, like Tammy Younger and Luce George, who claimed they could cast spells. And there was Easter Carter, a spinster nurse who owned the only two-story house here. Easter practically lived on boiled cabbage and had a boarder, a former
slave who dressed like a man and went by the name of John Woodman, who earned money building stone walls.

Maybe that woman had built some of the stone walls right here along this rutted trail, Elly thought, still scanning the area for familiar landmarks.

Who else? Becky Rich, of course. She made brews from native berries and told fortunes from coffee grounds. Elly and her sisters used to love picking berries here. They'd mash them up and mix them with ground leaves and water, pretending they were making special potions, whenever their father brought them here and told them to play while he read a book.

Her father would know where she was, Elly thought. He could have rescued her. But he was gone, and that thought made her weep, the tears mixing with the rain on her face.
Daddy
.

God, it was cold. Elly couldn't even feel her toes. The numbness made her think of the last resident of Dogtown, Black Neil, another freed slave. He slaughtered hogs for money and lived in a cellar hole until 1830, when the town sent the constable into Dogtown to get him out of there because his feet were frostbitten.

Elly stopped the bike to catch her breath, listening to an animal crashing through the underbrush. Even squirrels sounded as big as wolves here, she reminded herself; the only predators in these woods were the coyotes, and they didn't typically attack humans. Still, she was frightened, her lungs burning, her thighs liquid from the exertion.

The crooked tree trunks around her seemed to rise in human form, twisted and angry, their arms reaching for her. Elly was starting to really panic now; she blinked hard to turn the trees back into themselves, but even then their roots looked like twisted feet and their knots looked like eyes.

The woods were growing darker rapidly, an afternoon mist rolling in to cloak the tree branches with thick white scarves. Another animal crashed through the trees nearby and she jumped, then saw the flash of a deer's white tail. She hoped nothing was chasing it. She got on her bike and pedaled again, tears streaming down her face, mixing with the rain.

Just then Elly spotted two slight, hunched figures moving toward
her through the pale curtain of rain. She went very still, squinting as the shapes began to take on details. One wore a bright yellow hooded raincoat, dark pants, and a red brimmed hat; the colors burned like a flame against the gray and russet landscape. The other was all in black.

“Daddy,” she whispered, the tears of relief starting until she remembered again that Neil was dead. Her father would never show her these woods again. She put her hands to her face and cried into them, weeping for the loss of him and for all her childhood and those times with her sisters that were gone for good.

“Elly? There you are. We were worried, child.”

Elly dropped her hands in astonishment. Flossie stood before her in a black rain suit and knee-high boots. “Laura and Anne came to my house to see if you were with me,” she said. “They were worried about you.”

“They called me, too.” Sarah, wearing a remarkably un-Sarah-like rain outfit of bright colors, stood next to Flossie. Even more remarkably, she was smiling, her blue eyes soft on Elly's face. “I'm glad you're all right,” she said briskly. “What on earth were you thinking, riding a bicycle into Dogtown in this horrible weather? You should have more sense than that. Come, now. Let us take you back to Laura's.”

Elly set the bike gently on the ground and stood there, closing her eyes as she felt her mother and Flossie steady her, one on each side, their murmuring voices steady as the rain.

T
he weather had turned so suddenly cold that Laura insisted Anne bring Lucy over to her house for the night. “We'll get things sorted and move you out of the cottage next weekend,” she'd said, “but I don't like the idea of you two shivering in your sleep over there.”

Anne was glad to be at Laura's, not only because of the bitter temperature, but because of the immense surprise of seeing her mother and Flossie arrive with a dripping and half-frozen Elly, whom they had managed to find in Dogtown.

“What even made you think to look there?” Anne said to Flossie.

“Just call it an old woman's intuition,” Flossie said, gesturing at Sarah. “That old woman, not me. She thinks Elly has taken the news about your dad's death especially hard, and that's where he always took the three of you.”

Anne rooted around in Laura's cupboards and fridge and made a rich vegetable stew with barley, adding herb dumplings to stretch the recipe for all of them. Flossie went out to her car and brought in a couple of bottles of Spanish red wine—a gift from one of her admirers, she said coyly—and they feasted. When Sarah yawned, Flossie fussed over her, then helped her back into the startling yellow rain jacket before driving her back to the inn.

Anne was tired, too. She put Lucy to sleep in the portable crib in the office, where she would be staying on the pull-out couch, shoving aside
Jake's desk to make room for it—good riddance, she thought—then considered going to bed, too. But it was still early, so she carried the baby monitor downstairs.

Laura and Elly were seated on the leather sofa in the living room. They'd opened another bottle of wine and held glasses in their hands, the wine a rich cherry color in the light cast by the table lamps.

When Anne came in, her sisters moved their feet and patted the middle cushion. She sat between them, then slid onto the floor, taking a cushion with her so that she could sit on it and face them. Laura poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her.

Elly looked ill. Her eyes were bloodshot and her California tan was gone; even her lips were pale. She and Laura were discussing their mother's birthday party preparations for next weekend and what songs the three of them ought to rehearse with Kennedy, but Elly was barely able to keep up her end of the conversation. She sounded drugged.

“Do you think you caught a cold, being in Dogtown?” Anne finally asked. “Your voice doesn't even sound like yours.”

“You can't catch a cold from the cold,” Elly said, sniffing. “That's a myth. You have to be exposed to a virus.”

Laura glanced at Elly. “She sounds like that because she's been crying. Ryder seems to have disappeared.”

“What do you mean?” Anne looked at Elly. “Wait, he's not actually
gone, gone
, is he? I thought he was staying here until Mom's party.”

Elly tucked her hair behind her ears and shrugged. “We had a fight. He left.”

“Are you sure?” Anne asked. “Maybe he just missed dinner.”

“No,” Elly said. “His stuff is gone, too.”

“But why?” Anne asked. “What did you fight about?”

“She told Ryder that I'm the only reason he's here,” Laura said. “I was really drunk when I invited him,” she added. “I didn't mean to do it.”

Anne laughed, then stopped when she saw Elly's stony expression. “What's the big deal? I'm sure Ryder doesn't care why he was invited, as long as he gets to be with you, Elly. And he wouldn't take off without saying anything.”
That would be more like Colin,
she thought.

“Tell her the rest.” Laura nudged her foot against Elly's thigh. “Tell Anne what you said to Ryder at the wedding reception.”

Elly set her wineglass down on the table hard enough that Anne was afraid the stem might snap. “I told him that if it had been up to me, I wouldn't have invited him at all. That I never intended for us to be together.”

“Ouch,” Anne said, wincing.

Elly nodded. “I got lost in Dogtown because I was looking for him. I thought Ryder was with Sebastian, and I wanted to apologize before he left. He'd already packed up his stuff, so I knew that's what he was going to do. Ryder must have come here and gotten his things while I was out.”

“He's definitely gone for good. He sent me a text saying thanks for everything,” Laura added. “The thing is, I thought maybe Ryder got a job or something and had to fly back to California before Mom's birthday party.”

“He would have loved that dumb party,” Elly said mournfully. “All the singing and dancing. The dramatics.”

“Mom's or ours?” Laura teased.

Nobody laughed. Anne gazed into her half-full wineglass, frowning. “What if Ryder didn't really leave?”

“He took his bag,” Laura reminded her.

“Okay, but if he made a return flight for
after
Mom's party, Ryder probably wouldn't want to pay to have the ticket changed. He could be staying somewhere else, figuring he'll spend the week touring Boston or something. Maybe he's hoping Elly will go after him.”

“No. Ryder's not that manipulative,” Elly said. “And he's not that hard up for cash. He wouldn't care if he had to pay extra to change his ticket.”

“But maybe Anne's right, and Ryder doesn't want to give up on you completely,” Laura said excitedly. “I've seen how he can't take his eyes off you.”

“Stop. That sounds stalkerish,” Elly said. “Anyway, none of this matters. It's probably better if he leaves. I mean, what would I say? ‘Oh, wait, I just remembered that I
did
mean to invite you here'? That would be lying. I'm not Mom,” she reminded them.

“Well, you could say you didn't realize how much you wanted to be with him until he showed up.” Laura sounded impatient now. “That's true, right? Look at you! I've never seen you so distraught. You really care about this guy, Elly.”

“Laura's right,” Anne said. “You went to Dogtown by yourself in the rain, and on a
mountain
bike, all because you were so desperate to find Ryder. What does that tell you about your feelings?”

Elly sighed and sank deeper into the couch. “Still, it doesn't matter how I feel about him! No way can we be together.”

“Why not?” Anne asked.

“Because the other reason Ryder took off is because we were talking about families,” Elly said. “He believes people might as well couple up and reproduce, because that's what humans are meant to do. And I don't even know if I can have kids. He'd walk away if he knew that.”

“No,” Laura said, “you only
think
that's what he'd do. That's different from having had an actual, honest conversation with him about your relationship and whether he wants kids.” She tossed back the rest of her wine, then added, “I sound so wise, don't I? I'm obviously the poster child for honesty in a marriage.”

Elly smiled. “You're doing a great job now.”

Laura waved her away. “Hey, I just had a thought. What about Sebastian? Ryder said he wanted to go to Dogtown with him again. What if he did that today, then went back to Sebastian's house? We should call Sebastian. And by ‘we,' you know who I mean.” She looked pointedly at Anne.

“Oh no.” Anne put her hands up. “Not a good idea. Sebastian works hard. He might be asleep.”

“It's only eight o'clock,” Laura protested. “Last I checked, we're not asleep, and look at the day we had.”

“Plus,” Anne said, “Sebastian has made it pretty clear he doesn't want anything to do with me.”

“That's too bad,” Elly said.

Laura said, “Okay, but you need to call him for Elly, not for you! Look. Just get Sebastian on the phone and ask if you can speak to Ryder. Be casual. It doesn't have to be all cloak and dagger. Just tell him we're
concerned because we're going to need another videographer for Mom's party if Ryder decided to go back to California. You don't have to whine.”

“I wouldn't
whine
at him!” Anne protested. “I know why he doesn't want to see me.”

“Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's temporary,” Laura said.

Anne shook her head. “I don't know about that. He's pretty messed up.”

“Why?” Laura looked curious now.

Anne glanced at Elly. “You didn't tell her about his wife?”

“Oh my God,” Laura said. “Sebastian has a
wife
? Seriously? What's
wrong
with you, Anne?”

“It's okay. She's dead,” Elly said.

Laura's mouth opened, then closed. Finally she said, “I'm so sorry. How awful for him.”

“She was pregnant,” Elly added. “Killed herself.”

“Jesus!” Laura said. Now she looked at Anne and shook her head. “Well, you always did like the hot needy ones.”

“Shut
up
, Laura!” Anne folded her arms. “Let's not even go there with what men we choose. I could say a few things to you on that subject.”

“Stop!” Elly said. “Everyone in this room has lousy taste in men, okay? The Bradford women are genetically predisposed to be bum magnets. But, Anne, please. Call Sebastian,” she pleaded. “For me. Could you? I'm dying. If Ryder's still here, I have to see him.”

“Oh, all right. Since you're terminal,” Anne said.

“Bring the phone in here!” Laura and Elly chorused as she left the room.

“No way!” she said.

Anne locked herself in the downstairs bathroom and turned her back to the mirror to avoid seeing her pale, freckled face as she dialed Sebastian.

“Hello?”

His voice sounded deeper on the phone. “Sebastian?” she said.

“No. It's Ryder. Hello, Anne.”

“How did you know?” she began, then remembered that Sebastian had put her number into his phone. Some sort of picture probably popped up with it. “Wait. Why are you answering Sebastian's phone?”

“He's asleep.”

“Oh,” she said. “I'm sorry. I thought I was calling early enough.”

“That would be hard to do. He's been in bed since about seven.”

“Is he drunk?”

“No. Just feeling down.”

Anne put a hand to her heart. “I'm sorry. So you guys must be at his house.”

“Yeah. We were in Dogtown, but when the rain started, we hiked back here. I had my cameras, and Sebastian said it was too wet to work anyway.”

“Are you sure he's okay?”

“Yeah. I checked on him a little while ago.” When Anne was silent for a moment, Ryder added, “I know what's going on with you. He told me.”

“Oh,” she said.

“It isn't you.”

“Thank you for saying that, but listen. I was actually calling Sebastian to find you.”

“Oh.” Ryder sounded surprised.

“I mean, I wanted to talk to him, too, of course. But I wasn't sure he'd speak to me.”

“He definitely wants to talk to you,” Ryder said. “Don't give up on him, Anne.”

“I'm not going anywhere,” she said. “I'm moving in with Laura. Will you tell him that for me?”

“Sure. So why were you calling me?”

“Elly's really upset about how things ended with you guys.”

“They didn't end,” Ryder said. “They never began, according to her.”

“I don't think that's true,” Anne said. “Anyway, she wants to talk to you.”

“She said that?”

“Yes,” Anne said. “Can you come back to Laura's?”

“No,” Ryder said. “I don't want to crowd her.”

It was a standoff, Anne realized: Ryder needed Elly to come to him. “She looked all over Dogtown for you today,” Anne said. “She got lost in the rain. If our mom and aunt hadn't found her, she'd probably still be out there.”

“Your mother was in Dogtown? Really? No offense, but that's pretty hard to picture. She must be feeling better.”

“Apparently she seems to have forgotten she should take it easy. But that's Mom.”

“Good for her.”

This was off topic. She had to fix things for Elly. “Listen, what if I bring Elly over to Sebastian's house so she can talk to you? Would that be okay? I won't even come inside. She can text me when you guys are done talking. Do you want to see her?”

“Only if that's what she wants,” Ryder said.

Fifteen minutes later, she and Elly were pulling up in front of Sebastian's house. Anne hadn't been here before; because of the baby, Sebastian had always come to the Houseboat. But there were only five houses on the road, and she spotted Sebastian's Jeep parked in the driveway of the third house down, a small white eighteenth-century Cape.

“You sure Ryder wants to see me? He
said
that?” Elly was clasping and unclasping her hands in her lap. She'd brushed her hair and put on a little makeup; the effect of that was to make her look even paler, almost ethereal in the dark car.